The Sensuous Gadgeteer
(Page 2 of 11)
September/October 1973
By the Mother Earth News editors
The shape of the blade is also important. Probably the strongest blade is the symmetrical taper because the point is strengthened by a thick backbone of steel behind it. However the symmetry of the blade gives the eye no information as to which side is the cutting edge and which side is the back, so that you are guaranteed, once every five years or so, to mistake the cutting edge for the back and press your thumb against it. It only takes a second, and then it is too late. Get a knife with a scimitar blade. My own knife has a blade like this:
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The back is rounded, not squared, so that I can press my finger or thumb against it without getting blisters. The cutting edge is curved so that it will present itself even to concave surfaces. The backbone of the knife is thick, for strength, and the sides of the blade taper slowly and uniformly to the cutting edge. This shape is very useful for making things as we will see in the next section on sharpening knives.
YOUR KNIFE
Get a small knife and learn how to sharpen and use it. Stainless steel blades won't rust, but they are too hard to sharpen in any reasonable length of time, and for some reason they don't stay sharp long in use. Carbon steel is better. If you get a jackknife (NOT a switchblade) make sure the blades don't wobble too much, and that the blades were forged or machined. Blades punched out of sheet metal will often crack in use, and then ... disaster! Spend the money now out of your pocket instead of paying later out of your hide.
Get a knife with a handle that does not feel like it is ready to fall off. If the handle is too smooth it will give you blisters.
STONES AND SHARPENING
When you buy your knife buy sharpening stones with it, a coarse and a fine stone (or a combination coarse-fine stone), and a hard Arkansas oilstone. The coarse stone is for rough sharpening your knife (taking off steel) and for getting nicks out of it. The fine stone is for sharpening the knife to a useable sharpness. The Arkansas oilstone (cut from novaculite rock) is for polishing the knife. Much of the dulling of knives is caused by rust which starts when water collects in the scratches left in the knife metal by the sharpening stone. If you polish the cutting edge with the Arkansas stone you will not give water a place to collect. Soak your stones thoroughly in oil when you buy them, and put a few drops of light oil or Three-in-One oil on them every time you use them. The oil keeps the stone from clogging. When the knife travels over the stone it grinds the stone to mud, while ribbons of metal are stripped off the knife. The oil floats away the mud and the metal ribbons. Without the oil the mud and metal will soon coat the stone with a smooth surface that is not abrasive, and the stone will be ruined. Synthetic corundum (A1 2 O 3 ) stones are excellent if you can find one. I think that big medical supply houses sell them for sharpening scalpels, but you might have to be a big customer to order from them. They are good because they are harder than other stones, and will quickly give a good edge to your knife without themselves getting worn down. You can also get big stones in substantial wooden cases. These are professional equipment. Get one if you expect to be using it every other day for the next ten years. An outstanding fine stone is the washita oilstone, if you can find one. The Whole Earth Catalog says, "You can't buy quality: You have to grow into it." This goes for knives and stones and everything else in life. When you buy a knife or a stone get the cheapest GOOD one you can afford, and USE it. If you need a better one or a more specialized one later, you will know.
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